Let us speak of flowers …; and of ducklings, cubs, chicks, …; and ephemeral ponds …; buds and sprouts …; let us speak of spring! To be young … again.
It’s a good thing the seasons include a spring every year. For in truth I am not getting younger. It is Memorial Day weekend and, although technically it will be spring another three weeks or so, the traditional beginning of summer. This seems especially true in Wisconsin, with its long, slow build up and then all of a sudden, wham! Everything turns green in a week. We even had an extended warm spell before the latest cold snap brought us back to reality.
Time to share some scenes of spring before the memories fade in the summer sunshine. I offer a tour of places from all over the map of southeast Wisconsin in this youthful season of possibilities. They are presented in roughly chronological order beginning in early April—when there wasn’t even a hint of green yet. Links in the captions will take you to park pages when available for additional photos and information.
The first thing that April showers bring … is flooding rivers! This is the Menomonee River in Lime Kiln Park in Menomonee Falls, which is sometimes referred to as the “dells of the Menomonee River” for its rocky outcroppings and narrow gorge.
And of course spring brings babies! In this case great horned owlets in a nest with an adult to watch over them. In the Forest Exploration Center on the Milwaukee County Grounds in Wauwatosa.
… And where there are baby owls, there are birders! In fact, I wouldn’t have noticed the nest if not for the gaggle of birders. It must be said that congregating like this (especially with dogs) is stressful for the owls and is discouraged by ethical birders.
Morning meditation as the grasses in Konkel Park, Greenfield, are just beginning to green up along Honey Creek in late April.
We did see some hepatica, an early wildflower, in bloom at Wehmhoff Woodland Preserve in Burlington — but this was a better photo than any I managed to get of the flowers. It provides a sense of the glacial terrain in this preserve–almost a mini kettle moraine.
Spring is also when certain animals molt, such as this whitetail deer shedding its winter fur in the Milwaukee River Parkway in Glendale.
Ephemeral ponds, aka vernal pools, show up after the winter snow melts; they provide essential habitats for certain species such as salamanders. This one is deep in the Cedarburg Beech Woods State Natural Area near Saukville.
I finally found some serious spring wildflowers at the tail end of April. These are Dutchman’s breeches in bloom at Blue Heron Wildlife Sanctuary near Saukville.
Another meditative moment on an unseasonably warm day in the beginning of May at Retzer Nature Center in Waukesha.
More babies, goslings this time, in the lagoon at Greenfield Park in West Allis.
They are a little hard to make out from this distance, but there are great blue herons (and presumably babies) in the nests in the rookery at Simmons Woods in Pewaukee.
Midway through May things began budding in earnest, as seen here in a “forest primeval” corner of Whitnall Park in Hales Corners.
Ducklings this time. In curious synchronicity with the tethered Swan Boats in the lagoon at Veterans Park in Milwaukee.
Jack in the Pulpit was the name of the game the day I went to Tabor Woods in Caledonia. I saw plenty of them and couldn’t decide which of these two shots I liked better–so I included both!
